Restaurateur charged with insurance, workers comp fraud
By: Adina Genn July 21, 2016
An Inwood resident faces charges of insurance and workers’ compensation fraud, officials said Thursday.
Michelle Buggs allegedly lied about injuries and employment status in order to receive more than $69,000 in disability payments and workers’ compensation insurance payments, the Nassau County District Attorney’s office said.
“Workers’ Compensation Insurance was designed to protect those vulnerable employees injured on the job,” District Attorney Madeline Singas said in a written statement. “However, when individuals decide to scam the system by filing fraudulent disability insurance claims, they are undermining that very system designed to help those in need. Workers’ compensation fraud is a serious crime that ultimately cheats honest taxpayers who are then forced to shoulder the burden of increased premiums.”
Back in October 2006, Buggs worked at Waldbaum’s in Glen Head as a baker and cake decorator, the DA’s office said. Buggs injured her wrist and fourth finger at Waldbaum’s while helping a customer up from the floor and onto her walker. The Workers’ Compensation Board granted her disability payments, according to officials.
In August 2012, Buggs filed incorporation with New York State for a restaurant “It’z All 4U.” The restaurant was also featured in the local Rockaway newspaper, The Wave, in January 2014, according to the DA’s office.
But in December of 2014, Buggs signed paperwork at at an independent medical exam stating that she had not worked since the date of the accident and that she was unable to work. On Feb. 26, 2015, Buggs testified under oath at a workers’ compensation hearing that she did not start a company or own a business, the DA’s office said.
Surveillance conducted in February of 2015 allegedly showed Buggs cooking, working the cash register and serving customers. She was also allegedly observed carrying items with her right hand and making deliveries to customer locations, according to the DA’s office.
Represented by attorney Scott Gross, Buggs is charged with second-degree grand larceny, second-degree insurance fraud, third-degree grand larceny, third-degree insurance fraud, first-degree perjury, first-degree offering a false instrument for filing and workers’ compensation fraud.
She is due back in court on Aug. 26, and faces up to five and 15 years in prison if convicted of the top charge.